TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Change Disrupts TV Baseball Coverage In Baltimore

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARC LANCASTER The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 24, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Television viewers in the Baltimore area will have a chance to watch tonight's Orioles-Rays game. The only question is how much of it they'll be able to see.

The Orioles' network, MASN, will pick up tonight's game in progress promptly at 7 p.m. That's the earliest it can begin airing game action because Major League Baseball's contract with Fox gives the national network exclusive rights to Saturday games through 7 p.m.

That window normally isn't a problem for individual team broadcasts, as games traditionally begin at 7:05 or 7:10, but the Rays' decision to move most Saturday home games up to 6:10 to accommodate postgame concerts has caused headaches for opponents and will leave local fans with a choice: Come to Tropicana Field or don't see the game at all.

The TV rights-holders for at least three teams scheduled to play the Rays in 6:10 p.m. Saturday games - the Orioles tonight, the White Sox next Saturday and the Tigers on Aug. 2 - are planning to join games in progress as soon as they are allowed.

If the Tigers hadn't decided to do so, that would have been the only game all season not televised in Detroit. Houston's June 21 game at the Trop will be the only Astros contest not televised this season, team spokesman Jimmy Stanton said.

Pat O'Connell, a spokesman for the White Sox, said Friday the team asked the Rays to consider changing the game time and was denied, then asked Fox to waive its exclusive window and was denied. Comcast SportsNet Chicago will air a one-hour special up until 7 p.m. Eastern with a ticker keeping viewers apprised of action in the game running along the bottom of the screen.

As for the other two Saturday games with early starts, the Marlins will not televise their June 14 game against the Rays and the Blue Jays will be able to show their July 19 game on CBC.

None of the 6:10 games will be televised by the Rays' broadcast outlets, which will air 142 games this season.

"We're televising the same number of games as last year, and we decided to televise entire games as opposed to a portion of the games," said Rays president Matt Silverman, who hopes the 6:10 starts will encourage more fans to attend.

"The early start allows fans to come out and watch the game and enjoy the concert without the festivities going too late into the night," he said.

POSITIVE REVIEWS: The Rays tried not to put too much pressure on LHP David Price in his first professional start Thursday night by limiting the number of front-office types in attendance.

Minor-league pitching coordinator Dick Bosman was the only bigwig there, but the reports he and Vero Beach's coaching staff sent back to the home office were as encouraging as the numbers Price posted in his five shutout innings.

"The first couple innings he was a little overanxious, but he settled down, made the adjustments he needed to and pitched extremely well," said Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman. "He threw a lot of groundball outs and had a number of punch-outs and he commanded the ball well, and that's really what we were looking for. He more than answered the bell."

THE RULING CLASS: Rays manager Joe Maddon said he is in favor of limited use of instant replay, which reportedly could be implemented for Arizona Fall League, World Baseball Classic and spring training games as a test run for use in major-league games.

"I don't want it on bang-bang calls, I don't want it on balls and strikes," Maddon said. "I can see it on home runs and fair and foul balls. That, to me, makes the most sense."

Maddon also didn't seem overly concerned with MLB's mandate that umpires enforce all of the rules designed to keep games moving at a quicker pace beginning Friday. One rule he said he liked was the requirement that an extra bat be kept in the on-deck circle, saving time when players break them and need to get a new one.

"Cut down on commercial time if you really want to speed up the game, that's what it comes down to," Maddon said.

NOTEWORTHY: RHP Chad Orvella had arthroscopic surgery Friday to clean up his shoulder. No repairs had to be made to his labrum or rotator cuff, but Orvella is out for the season. ... Florida football coach Urban Meyer attended Friday's game.

Marc Lancaster

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT